03 May 2011

A Typical Day For PFC Bradley Manning at Fort Leavenworth

PFC Manning was transferred to the Joint Regional Corrections Facility (JRCF) at Fort Leavenworth on April 20, 2011. I was able to tour the facility and meet with PFC Manning last week. PFC Manning is now being held in Medium Custody. He is no longer under Prevention of Injury watch and is no longer subjected to harsh pretrial confinement conditions.

Unlike at Quantico, PFC Manning cell has a large window that provides adequate natural light. His cell also has a desk, a bed, and a toilet. The cell is approximately 80 square feet. He is provided with a normal mattress, sheets and a pillow. None of his clothing is taken away from him at night. PFC Manning is able to have all of his personal items in his cell, which include his clothing, his legal materials, books and letters from family and friends. He is also able to have a pen and paper at all times in his cell, and is able to write whenever he chooses.

PFC Manning is housed in a special area of the confinement facility, along with other pre-trial detainees. Each pre-trial area (including PFC Manning’s) has four cells, and each pre-trial detainee is assigned to his own cell. The cells are connected to a shared common area, with a table, a treadmill, a television and a shower area. Click here in order to see photos of the JRCF area.

A typical timeline for PFC Manning’s day (and those of all other pre-trial detainees) follows:

At 04:50, PFC Manning is given a wake-up call. Over the next 10 minutes, he gets dressed, shaves, and begins to get ready for the day.

At 05:00, the lights come on and the door to his cell opens to the common area. PFC Manning finishes getting ready and joins the two other pre-trial detainees housed in his quarters in the common area.

At 05:15, PFC Manning and all the other pre-trial detainees are escorted by one guard to the cafeteria. There are no restraints placed on any of the pre-trial detainees. The cafeteria has multiple food selections, as well as a full compliment of coffee, juice, milk and soda. PFC Manning eats his breakfast together with the 6 other pre-trial detainees currently at the JRCF. He and the other pre-trial detainees in his quarters are then escorted back to the common area.

From 06:00-11:00, PFC Manning is permitted to watch television, sit in the common area, talk to other detainees, use the treadmill, or use the shower. At 11:00, the group is escorted back to the cafeteria for lunch. After they finish lunch at 12:00, the group is brought back to the common area where they remain for the next couple hours.

At 14:00, PFC Manning and his group are taken to the outdoor recreation area. This area has several basketball courts, a quarter-mile running track, weight machines, and a handball court.

After approximately two hours of outdoor recreation time, PFC Manning and his group return to the common area. At 16:00, he along with the others, are taken down to the cafeteria for dinner.

Immediately after dinner, PFC Manning is permitted to either go to the library or to the indoor recreation area (both of which are outside the common area of his cell quarters). PFC Manning is allowed to remain there until approximately 18:30. He then returns to the common area of his cell quarters, where is permitted to read, watch television, socialize with others, etc.

At 22:00, PFC Manning goes into to his individual cell, and the doors to his cell are locked for the night.

Weekends are considered “free time.” Unlike weekdays, PFC Manning is allowed to sleep as much as he likes. Movies are also provided to pre-trial detainees on weekends.

The JRCF permits visitors on Monday-Friday from 19:00-21:30 and on weekends/holidays from 08:00-11:00 and from 13:00-16:00. As with Quantico, only those who are on PFC Manning’s authorized list are permitted to see him. Unlike Quantico, however, PFC Manning can receive mail from anyone. Any mail sent to PFC Manning will be inspected prior to him receiving it. He is permitted to keep up to 20 pieces of mail in his cell; the remaining mail must be either destroyed or be packaged and mailed to someone else. Correspondence can be sent to PFC Manning at the following address:

Coombs, do you know if Manning has chosen to or if he regularly sends out the mail he gets - for posterity - or the frequency at which he is receiving letters, or the impact these letters might be having on him? Do you have a public comment on these queries? Do you know to what extent he is informed on the public reaction (to his situation) in America or the world at large?

I'm sorry if you've answered any of these questions before, I haven't been following this blog as much as I've wanted to. Thank you for defending Bradley Manning and thank you for providing the public with a blog for communications about him and his situation.

A considerably positive change, when compared to the conditions he was in for the past nine months or so. Hopefully this is REAL, and not another facade of humane and appropriate treatment like at Quantico.

I will not get my hopes up yet, though. I shall wait and see what will transpire during his trial(s), should there be any.

Hope you drummed it into him NOT to talk about anything case-related (except I didn't do it) to other pre-trial detainees bc it will backfire! He should be very very careful when talking with other pre-trial detainees. Quite possible the gov offers them a deal when they only testify against Bradley (usually things work that way). Just assume the worst to be on the safe side!!!

Relieved that his conditions have improved that much! But the worst is yet to come .... his "trial" (i.e.if there should be ever one...)

Thank you, Mr. Coombs. It was so good to read this. I know you are paid for what you are doing--but I believe you are going beyond any paid service for this brave whistleblowing hero. I am unemployed and in a bit of turmoil--so my written piece has lagged (and perhaps that's fine) about the May 19th action. If he IS able to view anything on the internet--I hope he'll get to see the video I did in which most of the incredible speeches of that day (and the action outside the gate--are interwoven into the 15 minute limit youtube likes for mini-documentary videos of this sort. I hope they end the prosecution of your client. But BRADLEY YOU ARE A HERO! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef1JRwpI-ZI

I guess he's going to be inundated with mail. So I shall not send anything.What he really needs is an outside agency to handle everything.A PR COMPANY with impeccable credentials and PROVEN SECURITY.Come on, guys, this is going to be the BIGGEST THING EVAR SOON!

Thank you for this update--I just pray that they have not completely destroyed himn by all the awful things that were done to him over so long a period of time--please let him know (as I'm sure you have) how many of us love him, have him in our thoughts all the time, support him, think he is an inestimable hero and wish to do anything he wants or we can to help him in any way. I"m assuming he knows (if he is not too depressed to have it matter now that he'sl been broken down so much) how many thousands of people admire and care deeply for him, his safety, and his sanity and will do whatever we can to see him through this. And thank YOU, David, for being thye strong advocate and coordinator you are.

What about Private Manning changed to justify removing him from Prevention of Injury watch? If nothing changed then either he should still be on Prevention of Injury watch, or he never should have been there in the first place.

How does the Army justify his being on Prevention of Injury watch before 20 April but not afterward?

Will Lamo testify against Manning in the military hearing? And, do you think it is possible to file a civil suit against the U.S. Government over this issue? Seems like there are serious constitutional problems and then breach of contract re. the military and Manning. Have you thought of bringing a federal trial attorney on board rather than merely relying on military justice which seems wholly unconstitutional from my perspective. Will Manning be suing over the torture, etc?

P.S. Looks like Lamo would last 5 minutes on the witness stand. Is it possible he wasn't communicating with Manning and falsified documents? I've reviewed the IMs posted at wired and the time sequences and conversations make no sense - whatsoever.

Just as Manning's official health status reports were periodically released over the last 9 months, hopefully Mr. Coombs can get updated versions issued periocially while Manning is at Leavenworth. It's important to compare his health while in Virginia to his health while in Kansas.

I want to add my thanks to the others' for your posting this update, and hope Pfc. Manning's mental status is intact after all he's been through. I would also like to know about what kinds of items he can receive. Thanks for your work beyond the call of duty!

Thank you Mr. Coombs for giving us, the public, access to what is going on with Manning, as far we can truly know in such circumstances. Yes, the comment about his now being off suicide watch. All of sudden he becomes non-suicidal? Makes no sense. I hope those at Quantico who tortured/mistreaded him will be prosecuted fully under the law for any laws they broke. They were trying to break him as a person/soul/spirit. I hope and pray they did not succeed. They so need to punished. I hope for the best outcome possible. He's a hero in many ways, because in the end only the people being informed of what's really going on, is just and right. Thank you very much.

It seems very odd to me that Mr. Manning's situation is not being forced into immediate resolution after President Obama's incorrect statement. I may be wrong, but Mr Manning did NOT break any law; he broke military policy and practice by revealing the activity which WAS breaking law, or at least conducting completely immoral, unethical behaviour, breaking military policy and practice. I now will be suspect of ANYTHING which makes Manning appear to be involved in "more" than this exposure.

David Coombs, With regard to mail policies, Please clarify, Does Bradley have to immediately mail or destroy previous letters in order to receive new mail?Does that also mean any letter he choses to keep in his possession will count toward his daily limit of new mail? I am curious, please respond at your convenience. THANK YOU

If B. Manning is guilty in doing what he is accused of, has he broken the law? When German soldiers and officers after WW2 defended their actions by saying they had only followed orders, The International Military Tribunal (in Nurnberg 1946) stated that it is every officer's and soldier's duty to follow his or her conscience rather than orders from a commanding officer, when those orders mean breaking national or internatioanl laws.

I am glad to read that PFC Manning is being treated much more humanely at this facility. I hope the court will understand the sorts of stress he was in while on duty, many related to his sexuality, and the fact that he felt he was doing the right thing by being a whistleblower.

The major thing that baffles me about this case is the fact that virtually no one appears to be concentrating on the crimes committed by the American army. Clearly, David Coombs is more than experienced enough to know whether or not this question might help his client. Perhaps it will be brought up at some point, or perhaps it is irrelevant. However, by International standards, the USA army, and government have committed war crimes, have they not? Bradley Manning and Wikileaks exposed them. How does exposing such hideous acts against civilians make someone emotionally unstable? Again, I have faith that David Coombs is presenting the correct arguments. This is far from my area of expertise, but on a personal level, I find myself constantly wondering - "what is so sane about a government that can commit these autrocities; hide them from a democratic nation and its allies and make no official statement about its culpability in crimes against humanity?" Bradley Manning is surely also a convenient way of shifting the focus away from the American government's own actions. From a psychiatric point of view, surely an entitiy that justifies, covers and refuses to acknowledge its actions, is dangerously psychopathic. On the other hand, a young man who cannot bear to see human atrocities committed by the organisation he represents, and feels the need, therefore, to do something about them, can hardly be considred 'unstable' by comparison?

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PFC Manning Article 32 Hearing. Sketch by Mr. Bill Hennessy.

LTC David Coombs, to the right of SGT Akbar, listens to the testimony of COL Ben Hodges.